best if one of my men drives.”
“However you wish,” Aidan said easily.
Thomas jumped down from the box and a burly soldier climbed up. The lieutenant ordered one to ride postillion and stationed another on the roof.
“Cautious, isn’t he?” Aidan said to Anne in a low voice. He helped her into the coach and climbed in after her.
Lieutenant Fordyce mounted his own horse and gave the signal to leave, obviously uneasy surrounded by the disapproving clansmen.
The coach was very narrow inside and not well sprung. Aidan’s large frame took up most of the space. After the second bone-rattling bounce as they rode through the gate, Aidan said, “I haven’t used it in ages. But Lybster is not far. We should be there in an hour or two.” He smiled and waved at Davey and his friends, who ran along the road after them.
Anne leaned back against the hard leather seat. “So, what is your plan?”
“I haven’t thought of it yet.”
She made a choking sound. “Is that why you dressed up?”
“A man should look good for his hanging.” He immediately apologized when he saw she didn’t find his quip funny. “Ah, Anne, don’t frown. It was my poor attempt at a joke. Something will come to me. What is important is that we are together.” He reached for her left hand. “You put your wedding ring back on.”
“I felt it completed the costume,” she murmured, not wanting to commit herself to more.
“It does. Come here.” He pulled her to lean her head on his chest. His hand rubbed her arm, warming her. “Have courage. I’ll think of something.”
“You are running out of time.”
He laughed. “My best ideas come when I am forced to improvise.”
Anne closed her eyes. She could hear the steady beating of his heart.
His hand stopped moving. “Are you sorry for coming to Kelwin? For agreeing to this marriage?”
She raised her head. His expression was somber. And she told him the truth. “No, I’m not sorry. I wouldn’t mind if our lives were a bit more dull…but I won’t regret the marriage, Aidan. I never will.”
“Promise? No matter what happens?”
“Yes.”
He smiled then and she placed her hand against his smooth, hard jaw. “I love you.”
Hugging her close, he didn’t answer but held her as he studied the passing scenery out of the window on her side. They followed the coast road. On her side was the wild North Sea and its rocky coast. Anne felt a pang of disappointment. She wished he’d echoed her words. She knew he cared for her, but she wanted love, the kind of a commitment that promised a forever.
“What are you thinking?” she asked, keeping her voice deliberately light.
He shook his head. “I was wishing there was another way to solving the differences between England and Scotland.”
“You want to stop the Clearances.”
“It would go a long way to creating harmony in my country.”
Anne mulled over his words. “You should take the matter up with Parliament.”
He made an angry sound. “What good would it do?”
She sat up. “They could stop the practice. They could make a law against it.”
“Anne,” he said with exaggerated patience. “The men making the laws are the same ones who stand to gain from the practice.”
His words didn’t sound right to her. “What you say may be true for the House of Lords, but not for the House of Commons. And Aidan, people are more aware of social injustice than they have been in the past.”
“Society in London is completely selfish,” he replied crushingly. “They feel they control the world and have no care for anyone else. They aren’t interested in problems outside their small social sphere.”
“There are those who are as you say. But Aidan, there are others, persons of intelligence, who question the old order of things. Those are the people you should talk to.”
“No one would listen to me.”
“Why not?”
The corners of his mouth turned down. “You don’t understand the ways of the world.”
A flash of anger sparked Anne’s pride. “And you haven’t been to London in years.”
“Has it changed that much?” he asked, with a hint of sarcasm.
“Yes. Aidan, the ending of the war has opened up a wealth of new ideas and new thinking. At the same time, people in London don’t realize what is going on here in the North and how it hurts the innocent. You have an obligation to use your title and your family’s power to make them care. You have a seat in the House of Lords, don’t you?”
“I do, but Anne,